More Spring Training..

At a recent Puppy Seminar we attended, we learned about the use of "Air Disks" in the training of agility dogs.



These disks are used to help train balance and proprioception in human patients, but can be used for dogs also.
A variety of exercises were demonstrated on the disks including perch work for contact training.




Here a few pics of Gladys and Trigger just getting used to standing and sitting with all fours on the disks. The larger of the disks is 24" which is a good size for a border collie. Gladys is also modeling some moves on a smaller, 14" disk.

Fitness 101

This is part of Gladys' spring training.







She was spayed this winter and so she is trying to be extra careful about her figure.







Just nibblin' on low-cal puppy energy goo.

Morning Zen Session..

I'm thinking of renting Gladys out as a hypnotist for children's birthday parties..





She seems to have mastered the nuances of total mind control...








Trigger is putty in her paws...

The Amazing Walk

What an amazing walk we took today!
Gladys, Trigger and I set off for our daily hour long walk. Dogs that always bark at us behind fences now no longer frightened Trigger. Instead of freezing, barking and backing up; Trigger was approaching them with a wagging tail!
At one point a pair of Gordon setters broke away from their owner and came running up to us. Gladys of course was happy to see them. Trigger amazed me again by staying calm, wagging his tail and letting them sniff him. No snarking. No guarding behaviors regarding me or Gladys.
Another huge dog approached us without any owner present as we were getting near home. He was a bit scary and very interested in Trigger and luckily pretty much ignored Gladys. Trigger again remained calm and allowed the sniffing. This dog was very obnoxious but obviously big enough to get away with it. We slowly made our way home and the dog even followed us up onto the porch and crowded us against the front door. Trigger did a very mini snark which was completely appropriate given the dog's extremely pushy and rude behavior. Trigger's behavior did not escalate and he went calmly into the house when I opened the door.
These are landmark moments for us and I am very proud of him!
One of the things that Erin, our puppy kindergarten instructor recommended was hand feeding Trigger his kibble to help decrease resource guarding. I'm not sure why that works, but I've been doing this the last two or three days and it is really working. Of course you can't just hand feed one dog. Gladys has found how much more tasty kibbles are when they are individually dispensed by the loving fingers of the mommy.

Weekend Update

Several landmark moments today. We took the pups to Stanford Shopping Center for their cruise around the mall and their usual voyages through Macy's, Bloomindale's and a few other select stores.
Trigger met several dogs and was very calm and friendly towards them. He also met some little kids and adults which absolutely delighted him. Gladys was a little more in the background; I think it was because of her overgrown chin whiskers. It's hell being plunged into menopause by a surgical procedure.
Trigger demonstrated his ability to conquer his fear when he was confronted by a very scary aggregate landing before the entrance to J.Jill. You could see him girding his loins and then making the trip across the stones despite his misgivings.
He was also absolutely spectacular when we got back to the car. Normally he finds the approach to the Toyota very scary, but today he watched Gladys leap like a little gazelle from the ground up into the 4-Runner. He paused for a moment, then came forward and gingerly leaped in also!
Later at home, for the first time he was able to follow a two-step command. I cued "right" and he turned his head to the right, I added "spin" and he spun himself all the way around.
Now I just need to get that on the left. He knows to turn his head to the left when I cue "left", but he doesn't really know that his body will spin in a counter clockwise direction yet.

Solar Power Puppy.....recharging..